Iowa General Assembly Passes Anti-BDS Legislation

People take part in a pro-Palestinian demonstration on October 10, 2015 in Paris, calling
MATTHIEU ALEXANDRE/AFP/Getty

The Times of Israel reports: WASHINGTON — Iowa’s senate passed a measure Wednesday aimed to deter corporate entities from participating in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.

The bill passed by a vote of 38-9, after advancing through the Iowa House of Representatives by a vote of 70-24 in February, and now moves to the office of Iowa’s Republican governor, Terry Branstad, who must decide whether to sign it into law.

In the last year, several states have taken up similar forms of legislation to address efforts to boycott or divest from the Jewish state, but only two others — Florida and Arizona — have gone as far as Iowa to ban both state investment and procurement in companies that engage in a politically motivated boycott of Israel.

Jacob Millner, a senior policy analyst for the advocacy group The Israel Project, said the Iowa bill enjoyed bipartisan support that ensured it made it through the partisan-divided statehouse.

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